Commercial and residential buildings often have flat top roofs and/or slightly sloped roof tops, as opposed to high-pitched roofs that are typically observed on many types of residential houses (e.g., colonial, cape, ranch, Tudor and other styles of houses). The flat top roofs on such buildings or other edifices avail themselves for installing various types of equipment that are used by the owners and/or tenants of the buildings. Such “equipment” can include air conditioning units, heat exchangers, water towers, protective railings, piping, photovoltaic (solar) panels, communications antennae, among other equipment and hardware devices typically installed on roof surfaces, and especially flat top roofs.
Securing the equipment is typically implemented by providing a frame or chassis to support the equipment on the roof. The frame or chassis is preferably provided by the equipment manufacturer or can be custom configured in accordance to local building codes and standards to support the equipment. Anchor devices are then used as interfaces for securing the frame or chassis to the decking of the roof. For example, a frame or chassis having four support legs would first require four anchor devices to be installed at a selected location on the flat top roof corresponding to each support leg. Thereafter, the frame/chassis is positioned over the four anchor devices to enable the installer to properly attach the four support legs to a corresponding anchor device.
Referring to the FIG. 1, a perspective view of a prior art anchor device 100 is illustratively shown being installed on a roof deck 110. Installing the anchor devices that are presently available in the commercial market requires the equipment technician and/or roofer to penetrate the roof surface including, for example, the roof covering 112 or membrane and insulation 116 therebelow, and attach the anchor device 100 directly to a roof structural member 114, such as a rafter or structural decking. More specifically, when retrofitting anchor devices into an existing membrane or covering 112 on a roof 110, a significant hurdle is that the anchoring devices 100 must be secured directly to the structural decking 114 or structural members below the roof covering 112 to provide ample support for the equipment. This is especially true for anchor devices 100 which need to withstand lateral loads. Mounting these types of anchor devices 100 typically requires cutting through the roof membrane 112 and creating an opening 118 in the insulation 116 to expose the building's structural deck 114 or other structural components hidden beneath the roof.
This type of invasive operation compromises the integrity of the roof covering and necessitates some type of roof repair or patching work, which often creates “difficult to flash” penetrations. Additionally, flashing of the prior art anchor devices 100 frequently cannot be accomplished with roof manufacturer's approved procedures. Therefore, there is a need for a non-invasive roof mounting adaptor that does not require removal of the roof surface layers and insulation to expose the underlying roof decking and/or support structures.